r/todayilearned • u/thebigchil73 • 22h ago

TIL that the ‘high’ from gambling isn’t connected to winning - the dopamine rush peaks at exactly 50:50 probability. Gamblers get a rush when the roulette wheel is spinning but their pleasure is largely unaffected whether they win or lose.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12649484/
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182

u/ifhysm 22h ago

I remember seeing something that the biggest spike in brain activity during slots was pulling the lever — not winning or losing.

133

u/Emotional_Perv 21h ago

Best part of my cocaine years wasn’t blasting an eighball of lines in a day, it was the ride over to the dealers house.

58

u/Iamonab0at 21h ago

Man, as a former addict, this hits way too close to home. I’d also argue that last turn you take onto your home street when you are thinking about what that first one is going to be like… Whew, I’d love to see what my brain activity was like.

23

u/LEDKleenex 19h ago

I hate to quote such a sell-out piece of shit, but "tell me the reality is better than the dream" perfectly encapsulates dopamine driving our anticipation rather than the actual goal/act/achievement/end.

Nothing in the world excites we animals more than the anticipation of something. That is the high and it sucks.

37

u/clover44mag 21h ago

Anticipation

9

u/jmartin21 21h ago

I’ve heard before that dopamine isn’t a pleasure neurotransmitter but instead was for anticipation, so this all tracks

12

u/bordomsdeadly 21h ago

Antici……………………..

Pation

(But pretend Tim Curry said it)

2

u/Viablemorgan 18h ago

…………heh…….. SpAcE!

1

u/clover44mag 21h ago

I hear it in Carly Simons voice

1

u/LEDKleenex 19h ago

All mammals.

1

u/composedofidiot 20h ago

Didn't some of the earlier researchers frame it as 'Anticipation'? Blurry memory but I remember thinking I was even more confused about what dopamine did after reading it

1

u/ApprehensiveStill412 21h ago

But where is the brain activity? Nucleus accumbens?